Crime issues provides focus for papers

Crime and punishment - or the lack of it - take prominence on a number of the day's front pages.

The Daily Telegraph reports the views of Home Office Minister Tony McNulty.

He has condemned new sentencing rules which will allow offenders caught with knives to escape with a fine.

And Cherie Blair says she fears for her children when they go out on their own.

Her views make the front page of the Independent newspaper.

Protest march

In the Daily Express, Roger Baker, the Head of the Essex force, predicts there will virtually be no policemen and women patrolling the streets in 10 or 15 years.

According to the paper, he says police stations are closing and in many cases victims of crime are just given case numbers.

The Daily Mirror covers the London demonstration against the knife culture among some young people.

It was prompted by the recent fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Ben Kinsella.

EU-wide treatment

The Telegraph highlights what it says is a damning report from the Commons select committee on health about the shake-up in NHS dentistry.

The paper says MPs have found that the new system is a disaster, with almost a million fewer people being treated.

The Daily Mail says that every NHS patient is to be given the right to go abroad for free treatment.

It says an EU directive on cross border healthcare will let patients shop around freely in all 27 member states.

Match of the day

The Mail, among others, names the favourite Beatles songs of the leaders of our three main political parties.

For Gordon Brown it's All My Loving; David Cameron favours The Long and Winding Road, and Nick Clegg chooses A Day In The Life.

The Sun describes the battle between Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal as the battle of the bulge.

It has photographs of both flexing their biceps, and says the smart money is on the weather being the winner.